Safilo eyes foreign markets, local brands after Armani licence loss

MILAN, March 6 (Reuters) - Italian upmarket eyewear maker Safilo posted a 7.2 percent drop in 2012 net profit on Wednesday and said it would focus on local brands and expansion outside of Europe to help offset the loss of the Giorgio Armani licence.

Safilo, Italy's no. 2 eyewear maker behind world leader Luxottica, said on Wednesday it would not pay any dividend on 2012 results, as expected by analysts.

In a statement, Safilo said 2012 net profit fell to 25.9 million euros ($33.7 million), hit by reorganisation costs tied to the Armani licence loss. Sales, however, rose 6.7 percent to 1.175 billion euros, with an acceleration in the fourth quarter helped by sales of its new Polaroid business.

The company gave no specific targets for 2013.

The board also approved terms of a new financing transaction for a total of 100 million euros ahead of the reimbursement of high-yield notes maturing in May. ($1 = 0.7692 euros) (Reporting by Antonella Ciancio, editing by Danilo Masoni)